Chapter 17
Hayes
18 years old
“Langston,” I whisper into the dark, panic evident in my voice. I’m at the edge of the building, but I can see where a cop stands in front of MJ. His back is to me, but there’s a bottle in his hand and a pained expression on MJ’s face. This is not good.
“Langston,” I say, a little bit louder.
“Man, you are terrible at this game. You aren’t supposed to give away your location.” He appears at my shoulder, his eyes glassy from drinking. Something is going on with him, but I don’t know what it is. Today, we signed on the dotted line for a future we’ve been working towards for as long as I can remember. So why is he getting drunk and trespassing on that same night?
It’s not like him.
“We’ve got to help your sister,” I say, jerking my head to where MJ is standing. “The cops are here.”
That clears up his drunkenness a little, panic settling into his eyes.
“We can’t go out there,” he whispers.
My head snaps.
Is he seriously considering leaving MJ out there to fend for herself?
“We can’t let her take the fall either,” I growl.
This guy is my best friend, but I can’t for the life of me understand what’s going on with him.
I start to step forward to reveal our location, but he grabs the back of my shirt, pulling me back.
Spinning, I lift my hands in fists, ready to fight him over this.
“You. Are. Not. Leaving. Your. SISTER.”
He throws his hands up, showing me he isn’t willing to fight me on this. It’s a good thing because, as angry as I am, I would win.
“Listen to me,” Langston says, trying to reason with me. “If we go out there right now, everything we signed today won’t mean anything. You can kiss that full-ride scholarship goodbye. MJ will be okay. They will do a breathalyzer and realize that she isn’t drinking. Then they will call my parents and have them pick her up. The most she will get is grounded. That’s a lot different than ruining a whole future, don’t you think?”
“Who are you,” I spit, anger seething through me.
He doesn’t answer, and I spin around, ready to go back out there, but Langston tackles me from behind, placing all his weight into it.
The ground cuts into my skin as I catch myself, but at this point, I don’t even notice.
“Get. Off. Of. Me,” I say, spinning and catching him on the chin with my fist.
Langston swings back. We exchange blows until I’m out of breath, and Langston looks like he might puke.
“Regretting drinking, yet?” I ask through the throbbing in my jaw. Even drunk, he’s got a heck of a left hook.
He stands up, placing his hands on his knees while trying to keep the contents of his stomach inside. I follow suit, pushing myself off the ground and spinning so I’m once again facing MJ. But as red and blue lights flash from the parking lot, I realize I’m too late.
“Hayes—” Langston starts, but I spin, narrowing my eyes with a glare that shuts him up.
“Keep your mouth shut before I knock your teeth out. I’ve been your best friend for a very long time, so I don’t say this lightly, but what the actual heck was that? The man I know would never let his sister take the fall for something that was his idea.”
Like a man on a mission, I walked past him, making sure my hip rams into his shoulder, where he is still bent over.
With alcohol controlling his balance, he tumbles to the ground, landing with his limbs sprawled out, and he looks of stupid shock on his face.
Bruises are forming on his cheekbone. It’s the least of what he deserved tonight. I lift my chin and continue to walk past him.
“Where are you going?” he calls, still lying on the ground.
“To take care of your sister like you should have.”
He doesn’t respond, but that’s okay. I wouldn’t have listened anyway.
______________________
The police station is far from the school, and by the time I walk there, I’ve built myself up into such a frenzy that I’m afraid I might lose it when I walk inside.
Luckily, I had the forethought to stop by the truck and change into the extra clothes Langston had brought us.
If I show up at the station with paint all over me, they will know I was at the school with MJ.
Not that I’m trying to hide that, but I’ll have a better chance of helping her if I’m not getting in trouble, too.
A middle-aged officer stands at the front desk when I walk in, and he eyes me suspiciously.
“Hello, sir. I’m looking for Mallorie Jade Harrison. Is she here?”
His eyes travel up and down, taking me in.
“She call you?” he grunts.
Of course, at the moment, I realize that I wouldn’t know she was here any other way, so I just nod and tip my lips up in a polite smile.
“Fine. Since she’s not officially under arrest, I’ll let you see her. She seems pretty distraught, but she can’t leave her until her parents show up.”
Dang it. So much for talking my way out of her parents being called.
“Thank you, sir.”
He grunts again, and I wonder if that’s his normal means of communication.
“This way.”
I follow him to the end of the hallway to a room full of desks. MJ sits beside one, her head hanging down. When she hears our footsteps, her head lifts, and the sight of her nearly breaks me in two.
Mascara streaks are running down her face from crying. Her hair is a frizzy mess where she took it out of her ponytail, and paint still covers all of her clothes.
This crushing feeling in my chest makes it hard to breathe. I shouldn’t have invited her along tonight. I didn’t know what Langston had planned, but she wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t invited her.
Her bottom lip trembles as I take the seat beside her.
“Sorry, it took me so long to get here.”
She shrugs but doesn’t meet my eye. “It’s fine. I didn’t even think you guys would show up. I’m just glad you didn’t get caught.”
“We should have,” I grumble under my breath, but she must hear because she finally brings her eyes to mine.
“What do you mean?”
I fill my lungs with air, holding it in until it burns and then releasing it.
“I saw the cop show up. I tried to come out there to help, but Langston tackled me. Gave me this,” I say, pointing to my jaw, which I’m sure is starting to bruise.
MJ gasps, and with a movement so slow I’m not even sure she realizes she’s doing it, she lifts her hand and runs her fingers along where the bruise is forming. Her hand is light against my skin, but I want to groan and lean into it. I want to feel what it’s like to have her hand firm against my jaw while I kiss her again.
Right now is not the moment for that, though. There’s never a moment for that. There’s no future where we can be together because she’s my best friend’s little sister, and I’m going to college in just a few months.
Despite that, though, I’ll take this moment to be there for her because it seems to me that not a lot of people are. I’ll revel in the softness of her skin against the stubble on my jaw, and I’ll dream about it later.
“I’m not glad Langston punched you, but I’m glad he stopped you from doing something stupid. If you had gotten caught, you might have lost your scholarship.”
“And you think that should matter more than you?”
She sighs, dropping her hand from my face, but I’m not going to let this go. She deserves to know she is worth the trouble I would have gotten into. I don’t think anyone has ever made her feel that way, including her brother, and it sends a fire of anger through my veins so strong that I might explode.
“Yeah, Hayes. I do. It’s not like I’m really in trouble—not with the police, at least. But I’m positive the punishment will come when my parents get here. I can handle it, though. I’m used to it.”
Hooking my finger under her chin, I lift her head until she’s looking at me.
“You would have been worth the trouble, MJ. Your brother shouldn’t have left you to fend for yourself, and I’m sorry that I inadvertently did, too.”
Her breath hitches, sucking in between her teeth, and tears swim in her eyes.
“Thanks for trying to save me,” she whispers.
I want to kiss away every tear on her cheek and love away her hurts.
“Always, MJ. Always.”
She slips her bottom lip between her teeth.
I don’t think she realizes how distracting it is. It makes me want to do something reckless, to drag us both down into a place of no return, but she deserves better than that. So I drop my hand and scoot my chair to the side, just a hair.
“I’m worried about him, you know.”
“Who?” I ask, too focused on not kissing her to concentrate.
“Langston.”
I grunt, feeling like the officer that left us here to wait, but I don’t have many nice things to say about my best friend right now—and my momma taught me if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.
“Seriously, Hayes. He’s going through a lot.” Her shoulders slump. “Will you promise me something?”
Apprehension prickles my skin, but I’ll make any promises she needs me to—even forever if she asks me.
“Yes,” I say with gravel in my throat.
“Take care of him next year. He needs you, Hayes. Don’t be mad at him for this forever. Langston has never gotten in trouble before. He wouldn’t know how to handle it. I won’t hold this against him, and neither should you. He’s a good brother—and friend—he’s just a little lost right now.”
There’s such desperation in her voice as she asks me that despite how angry I am with Langston right now, I can’t help but agree.
“Okay, little Harrison. I’ll watch after your brother.”
She sighs a breath of relief and relaxes into her chair until the click of heels approaching has us swiveling our heads to see who it is.
Mrs. Harrison steps into the room, and her face looks so cold that I’m afraid I might catch hypothermia from being on the receiving end of it.
“Mallorie Jade,” she snips. “Let’s go.”
MJ stands at her mother’s orders, and I follow behind. Dr. Harrison stands in the hallway behind his wife, looking entirely too close to losing a temper that I didn’t even realize he had.
When we are standing in front of Mrs. Harrison, her gaze flicks from MJ to me, a look of disgust evident in the scrunch of her nose.
“You’ve got paint on your neck, Hayes,” Mrs. Harrison says with such derision that I straighten my shoulders just to prove that she doesn’t know me.
I will never know how Langston and MJ ever came from a woman like that.